Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland stayed basically stable in the first 11 months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

A total of 54,703 new overseas-funded companies were established during the period, up 77.5 percent year on year, MOC data showed.

FDI from January to November reached 793.3 billion yuan, down 1.3 percent year on year. In U.S. dollar terms, the FDI stood at 121.3 billion dollars, up 1.1 percent year on year.

In November alone, the number of new overseas-funded enterprises increased 11.1 percent year on year to 5,158, according to the data.

FDI in November fell 26.3 percent year on year to 92.1 billion yuan. In dollar terms, the investment was 13.6 billion dollars, down 27.6 percent year on year.

The MOC attributed the monthly decline to a high base of comparison in the same period last year.

In the first 11 months, some 241 billion yuan of foreign investment went to the manufacturing sector, up 16 percent from a year earlier. Funds pumped into high-tech manufacturing jumped 30.2 percent to 78.1 billion yuan.

During the period, the country's pilot free trade zones saw the number of new overseas-funded enterprises expand 34.6 percent year on year, with FDI inflows up 10.4 percent.

Investment from the UK surged 198.9 percent year on year, the fastest among China's major investment sources, while investment from countries along the Belt and Road routes posted a growth of 14.9 percent.